Guest post: “Locations to Inspire Your Writing,” by Vanessa Morgan

No matter how much you enjoy writing, there will always be days when you need to force inspiration. Writing from the same old place doesn’t help. You need to break your habits.

One way to do this is to change locations. Writing from a new place forces you to write. It implies that you’ll be concentrating solely on your book, and not on blog posts, dishes, email, or Facebook.

Here are a few of my favorite locations where I wrote my book Avalon: a Heartwarming True Cat Story.

Coffee shop

Authors such as J.K. Rowling, Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, and F. Scott Fitzgerald have written their novels from the comfort of a coffee shop, and I’m no different. Nothing inspires me more than the nutty whiffs of coffee in the air.

But not all coffee shops should be treated equally. My favorite is the one at the airport. After 10 pm, my local airport looks abandoned (think: The Langoliers), but its Starbucks stays open all night long. It’s such a quiet location to get into the mood for writing.

Hotel lobby

There’s something about hotel lobbies that is just irresistible. Maybe it’s the din from the other hotel guests, maybe it’s the jazzy sounds in the background, or maybe it’s the feeling that I’m on holiday that makes this one of the best locations to write.

Nighttime terrace

The still late-evening air lends itself perfectly for writing outside. One of the best locations to do so is on the terrace of a favorite bar. A glass of wine next to me, the smell of fresh herbs and garlic coming from a nearby kitchen… I can sit and work for hours in a place like this.

Near the fireplace

My grandmother has a huge, ancient fireplace in her living room. You can’t imagine how hot it can be near such a thing, and that’s exactly why I like it. There is always a glass of red wine around and a home-cooked meal for when I stop writing.

What are your favorite writing locations?

About the book:

Some cats need nine lives to make a difference. Avalon only needed one.

From Amazon bestselling author Vanessa Morgan, Avalon is the heartwarming and once-in-a-lifetime love story of a girl and her neurotic Turkish Van cat.

With humor, the author details how Avalon made other creatures cringe in distress whenever he was around, how he threw her dates out by means of special techniques, and how he rendered it almost impossible for her to leave the house. Avalon was so incorrigible that even her landlord ordered her to get rid of him. But beneath Avalon’s demonic boisterousness, Vanessa recognized her own flaws and insecurities, and she understood that abandoning Avalon would be the worst she could do to him. Thanks to her unswerving loyalty, Avalon transformed into a tender feline, and even landed a major role in a horror movie. In turn, Avalon made it his mission to be there for his human companion.

By turns jubilant and deeply moving, Avalon is a memoir for anyone who has ever been obsessively in love with a pet.

About the Author

Vanessa Morgan is an author, screenwriter, and blogger. Two of her works, The Strangers Outside and A Good Man, have been turned into films. Her short film script Next to Her is currently in pre-production. When she’s not working on her latest book, you can find her reading, watching horror movies, digging through flea markets, or photographing felines for her blog Traveling Cats (http://travelling-cats.blogspot.com). Avalon has appeared in several of her books and films.

Pages

Foreword Best Book of the Year Winner, 2011 Global eBooks Awards Winner, National Best Books Award Finalist and EPPIE Finalist! Currently required reading at Loyola College, Kent University and Claremont University.